Mwetana, UMU Roll-out Online Platform for University Administration

A new web-based system known as SchooLink™, intended to help universities manage their administrative functions from pre-admission through graduation, has been launched by Mwetana Consulting and Technology Group and the Bishop Innis School of Theology (BIST) at the United Methodist University (UMU) Graduate School.

Vivien C. Jones, chief executive officer and president of Mwetana, who spoke about the importance of the new software during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the university and his firm, said UMU is the first university in Liberia to rollout the SchooLink university management system.

He said the goal of the new system is to streamline all registration, grading and financial processes involved when students are planning their course load for each semester.

SchooLink, according to Jones, is a secured and online browser-based system which is accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The platform is divided into several modules: Pre-Admission, Admission, Student, Parent/Sponsor, Courses, Faculty, Accounting and Setup Modules.

SchooLink also seamlessly integrates with commercial banks that allow the automatic approval of payments to the school account. There are plans to add additional modules in the near future.

“MWETANA SchooLink provides a user-friendly interface with secure login access for students, parents/sponsors, teachers, non-teaching staff and management personnel. It is a secure web-based solution that aims to make educational and administrative tasks easier,” he said.

He added that SchooLink is a dynamic school management system that utilizes the latest technologies to effectively and efficiently manage all institutions from kindergarten to12th grade, colleges and universities, technical and vocational schools. It provides a platform to unite school authorities, teachers, students and parents/sponsors, to enhance the quality of education.

“So, approximately six years ago after doing research at different colleges and universities and high schools, we decided to go down this road to start developing this program.

“This is not anything that we just started over a couple of years, we’ve been doing this for the past six years of developing this software, and as a matter of fact we are an information technology company (ITC). So we provide solutions across the board, we do consultancy, networking and the like,” he said.

Mr. Jones then assured the administrators that Mwetana has competent, young, entrepreneurial Liberians, “who have seen the vision for us moving this product and using it hopefully in all colleges and universities across the board.”

“But again, there is always somebody who takes the first step and then everybody else follows.

“You have leaders and you have followers and I can say today that UMU is a leader and I can always say you will not be disappointed,” he added.

Additionally, SchooLink is a web based system where users will be allowed to access it from anywhere in the world simply with a user ID and password.

Dr. Albert D. Coleman, Vice President for Academic Affairs at the UMU, expressed gratitude to Mwetana for such collaboration.

He said once a system is in place, it makes operations easier and curtails corruption that exists in many of Liberia’s institutions, especially institutions of higher learning.

He said such change “will improve academic excellence at UMU, but you all know that when there is change there will be lot of resistance and so we are still moving forward and [will] not let anyone deter us, because we must make a difference and improve education here at UMU and not do things the same old way.”

Speaking on behalf of the students, Brownell B. Konton thanked management for such a brilliant innovation.

“We the students of the Bishop Innis School of Theology are very proud especially that it is during our time such an innovative move has been made.

“As students of theology, we are grateful to you guys for such a time-saving, resource-saving innovation. We will do our best to make use of the new system,” Mr. Konton said.

The signing and launching ceremony of SchooLink was held on May 30 in the conference room of the United Methodist University, Ashum Street, Monrovia.

Mwetana is Liberia’s pioneer ICT company and winner of the 2016 National Excellence Award “Most Outstanding ICT Firm in Liberia” category. SchooLink can be accessed via www.schoolinktm.com.

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